1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to closures for tubes and, more particularly, to a tube closure using a spherical element.
2. History of the Prior Art
There are many known closures or closure caps for tubes or similar containers with original condition protection means, such as, for example, the following patents: EP A2 460 557 and EP A1 459 941. Further, there are known tube closures which need not be completely unscrewed or pulled off in order to enable the content of the tube to be squeezed out. In the case of such known solutions, the closure, which has a hole in the center, is screwed on by one or more rotations. In doing so, the edge of said hole lifts off a pin, which closes it after it is screwed on. This opens an annular gap through which the contents of the tube, or of the container in general, runs out or is actively squeezed out.
If only small quantities were to be taken from the tube, then this solution was not found to be acceptable because, in the case of a salve or a cream exiting from an annular opening a tube forms having a shape of little stability and, therefore, permitting no clear determination as to the amount having exited. The disadvantage of most of the known closures intended to preserve the original condition, (the two cited European patent applications are representative for a large number of similar solutions ), lies mainly in their spatial complexity. Some of them provide predetermined rupture links of a sometimes very complex nature, and some require that original condition protection strings are torn or stretched, making it necessary to assemble the closure from several very complicated parts. This requires either several or very complicated molded parts, which make the product expensive. The problem to be solved with the present invention is the creation of a closure for tubes or soft plastic bottles, which needs not be fully unscrewed to allow the contents to be squeezed out, and which can be connected in a simple way with a closure preserving the original condition.